When military law looks the other way

April 21, 2013Updated: April 21, 2013 6:49pm

Photo: Associated Press

This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin. The case involving Franklin who dismissed charges against a lieutenant colonel convicted of sexual assault will be reviewed at the top levels of the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a letter released Monday, March 11, 2013. But it's seemed unlikely that the ruling would be changed. Hagel said that under military law, neither he nor the Air Force secretary has the authority to reverse Franklin's decision to overturn the conviction against Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)

This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows Lt. Gen. Craig...

There are few cases that better illustrate why the military needs to create an independent office to investigate rape than that of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson. Wilkerson, a fighter pilot, was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissed from military service after being found guilty of aggravated sexual assault by a jury of his peers. His commanding officer then threw out the conviction and reinstated Wilkerson at full rank.

In America, we proudly proclaim our adherence to the rule of law - except under the military code of justice, where the commanding officer's discretion and bias may overrule legal decisions.

In this case, Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, the commander of the 3rd Air Force, declined to approve Wilkerson's conviction by a jury of senior officers, all men. His decision suggests the Air Force doesn't take sexual assault seriously. Yet, an estimated 19,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year in the military, although just 8 percent of sexual assaults are referred to military court, according to a Department of Defense survey of active-duty members. That compares with 40 percent in the civilian court system.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, last week reintroduced legislation that calls for overhauling how the military justice system handles rape and sexual assault by taking prosecution, reporting, oversight, investigation and victim care out of the chain of command and putting it in an autonomous office housed in the military but staffed by both civilian and military personnel. Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom already have changed their internal military judicial proceedings by transferring authority to an independent office.

"Victims of rape and sexual assault should not have to choose between career-ending retaliation and seeking judicial action against their attackers," said Speier. "If they believe that their perpetrator would be prosecuted, convicted and punished, it would be worth it to come forward."

In the Wilkerson case, the victim, a 49-year-old civilian contractor, was assaulted in his house at the Aviano Air Base in Italy. She told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes that she was shocked by the commander's decision to reverse the conviction. "I was assaulted. I reported it. I endured public humiliation, and the end result is that it was all for nothing."

Don't think this is just the plaint of women trying to pursue a career in a traditionally male institution. A study by Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group, found 56 percent of the victims of sexual assault in the military are men.

Wilkerson is being reassigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson where Protect Our Defenders promises to hold a protest Thursday to call for Wilkerson's and Franklin's removal.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel should remove Wilkerson for the assault and his commander for undermining military discipline, and both for undermining national security. And the military code must no longer be allowed to protect sexual predators.